A Key To His Heart
by WeirdVision
Summary: Howl has to face Lamia, the evil witch from Stardust, in order to protect a girl he likes. R&R if you like...


**A Key To His Heart**

That walk in the park turned out to be quite an adventure. With earplugs in my ears listening to orchestra music I was walking along the twisted alleys enjoying the coolness of the evening air after a torrid day. It was why I didn't see them from the beginning and only suddenly felt something sniffing at my heels. I turned around and I was startled to see the pack of stray dogs gathered behind me.

Dogs liked me usually, it happened often to have stray dogs coming to me to be petted and once one was persistent enough trying to climb into my lap to lick my face, so I wasn't fearing dogs. These ones though, I wasn't so sure about that. They were growling and barring their teeth apparently determined to scare the crap out of me. It made me wish I had my friend's Great Dane with me but I was alone and I don't know what would have happened if someone hadn't come to my rescue.

He emerged from the shadow, tall, with long blond restless hair falling down to the pink jacket hanging down his shoulders. Kind of girly you might think but I didn't have time to evaluate his fashion taste, I was more interested in keeping the integrity of my limbs intact.

"Go bother someone else." He said on a low tone almost like a whisper and waved a hand in the dogs' direction making them all quiet and retreat with their heads bowed. "Fear not, fair lady, I shall be your escort for this walk." the stranger held out his arm with a smile.

Cheerful bell rings were heard when the castle's front door opened. Howl entered carrying a seemingly asleep girl in his arms and carefully laid her on a sofa. Then he ran a hand through his long blonde tresses. Now what? He knew it was never a good idea to bring girls in his castle but he didn't have the heart to leave her out there. There was something very bad in those woods, watching and waiting for her. He didn't know who or what it was but he could feel the evil angry presence from far. And for once whoever it was hadn't come for him, it had come for the girl.

His long shadow hovered over her as he stood by the sofa watching her pensively. She was prettier than average though not a stunning beauty, rather slim and with long dark hair that had felt like silk against his skin on the way to the castle. He wondered why so many women preferred pants to dresses these days but he had to admit she looked good in those tight jeans, high heels sandals and white shirt tied above her navel. With a sign of his hand towards the fire in the fireplace he adjusted the room temperature because she looked a little cold. But the question still remained. What was he going to do with her?

"Hmmm…" he turned around and walked out the door disappearing into the darkness.

There was no way of telling what time it was when she woke up. Her watch had miraculously disappeared and there were no clocks around from what she could see. Stretching her neck she got off the sofa and walked around a bit curiously inspecting the place.

It was obviously big though it seemed there was no one else home beside her. The maid looked like she'd been gone too. For months, if not years. It was such a dump, she thought. Not necessarily dirty but it was a real mess. Tons of stuff piled up on top of each other all over the place. How could anyone find anything useful in this mess? She was thirsty so she looked for a glass but they were all dirty. And the water running in the sink had a funny color. She decided she wasn't that thirsty after all.

She had no idea where she was or how she had gotten there. Wandering around the ground floor of what was definitely a big mansion didn't reveal any clues and when she stopped by a window to look outside everything was black. It had to be night.

There was no time to investigate any further because the front door opened and Howl returned home. Now she remembered his name, he'd told her when they had met.

"Good evening," he said quietly "I hope you had a nice rest?" he smiled knowing she had to feel pretty rested. He'd made sure of that. "Ready for supper? I'm afraid my helper is away with some errands so we will have to take care of it ourselves."

"I can help…" she offered "but are you sure there's food in here?" she smirked. She hadn't seen much eatable stuff in the kitchen area.

"Absolutely." Howl opened one of the cupboard and pulled out some eggs, sausages, cheese and vegetables. "How does a cheese omelet with sausages sound? You can take care of the salad if you like."

She agreed with a nod and they cooked in silence for a while. He turned out to be quite skilled in the future doing everything with ease and soon the food was ready and sat on the table. "Bon appetite!" Two glasses with wine had appeared beside their plates.

Whether it was the wine or something else she didn't know but she found it had to focus on the conversation. There were so many things she wanted to ask him but the mystery surrounding him kinda intimidated her, which was odd cause she wasn't usually easily intimidated.

"I'm heading out again." he announced on the same low voice after they finished eating. "You can use the room at the left if you're tired. I would prefer it if you didn't enter my room upstairs but other than that you can go wherever you want. Just not outside, it's still not safe." he warned.

"OK." She should have asked why, shouldn't she? She stared at him confused, but for some reason she had the feeling she should have known that already.

"I won't be long." he told her starting for the exit. "Oh, and if someone comes to the green door could you give them the third bottle from the second shelf, please?" he didn't wait for her to answer but left straight away.

"Okay…" she muttered to herself once he was gone. Her dark eyes went to those shelves loaded with small bottles whose content had various colors. Picking one up at random she opened it to smell it and for a moment scarlet flowers bloomed in her hair. "Nice." she murmured. The second bottle smelled even better and so the third one. She didn't notice the feathers that covered her arms or the long reptilian tail growing behind her and lucky for her they were all gone almost instantly. "So he's a perfume maker." she concluded. "Interesting."

In lack of an occupation she curled up in a big armchair facing the fire and vegetated there being disturbed only once when an old man knocked on the door.

"Is Master Howl here?" he asked. "I came for the potion..."

"No," she said surprised to see a busy village square in plain daylight over the man's shoulder "but he left this for you." She went to get the third bottle from the second shelf as instructed and handed it to him. "Here."

"Thank you, ma'am." The man tipped his hat and left.

It was while she was closing the door after him that it occurred to her that the door was a regular brown wooden door and not green. But she hadn't seen any other door leading outside and the man had asked for a potion so… still, it was odd.

Whenever Howl had returned home she didn't hear it. She was woken up by the sound of his steps exuberantly coming down the stairs not caring how much noise he was making. "Good morning!"

"'morning," she yawned and grimaced finding her whole body was stiff.

"You should have used the bed." he grinned.

"I wasn't planning on sleeping here." she mumbled straightening up. "Err… someone came asking for the potion as you said it would…" she informed him.

"It did?" his eyebrows rose and he went to check something by the door. "No, it didn't."

"Huh?"

"I mean someone came but it wasn't the right person." he explained. "See this?" he showed her a rainbow colored dial by the door that she'd taken for an unusual wall decoration. "The blue door was used, not the green one."

"I don't get it."

"Come here, I'm gonna show you." he waved his hand at her to call her to him. "This is where he came from, right?" he turned the door knob and the blue sector of the dial was selected before the door opened to the same busy square.

"Yes."

"I'm afraid I know who it was…" he sighed. "The man has been bugging me for such a long time. He happens to have a horse and a daughter. She wants to go riding but she's been gifted with several extra pounds so her father wants the horse to grow a larger back. Of course I would never do that to the poor animal, I told him she needs to go on a diet but he just doesn't want to give up."

"Ah… I'm sorry, I didn't know… so what's gonna happen now?" she wondered.

"That horse will never suffer of smallpox." Howl smirked.

As he spoke the green sector of the dial was selected and the door opened again this time towards a commercial street from a busy town. "This is what you were supposed to see."

"Oh…" she gasped. "How did you do that?"

Howl grinned "Magic."

"It's a whole different town, isn't it?"

"A whole different continent even."

"Wow… can we go anywhere we want?"

"If the location is set in advance, yes."

"May I?" she reached out hesitantly and seeing him nod used the dial. The yellow color showed them the pyramids, orange took them near an Indian temple, and purple opened up to a rainy tropical forest.

"It's amazing!"

"Yes, and there can always be invented new colors and shades. These ones are all safe as long as you don't go too far from the portal. You can go out and enter back in anytime you want while no one else will be allowed inside through it." The mechanism behind that was pretty simple for a wizard but any regular human would have its brain freeze trying to comprehend. "Don't try the black one or you will get lost."

"OK…" she mumbled confused because of too much information. A question still nagged her from earlier and she had to asked "But where exactly are we right now?" after the door closed.

He smiled and took her hand. "Come with me." He led her upstairs and out on a large balcony from where she could see the world.

"I don't believe this." The girl shook her head amazed. "We're on a ship."

"It's a castle actually." He corrected her with an understanding smile. "My castle." he added before she could argue that no castle looked like that.

"It's a bit rusty… and dirty." she noticed.

"It doesn't matter. No one can see it unless I want them to." That was acquired by surrounding it with a thick layer of fog. "And it's in perfect working condition. It can walk, swim and fly. I'm partial to flying, it causes less commotion." Outside as well as on the inside at times.

"Ah, I see…" she murmured suddenly thinking that she must have fallen and hit her head cause none of that could be real. A cold wind made her shiver and Howl took off his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders already knowing what she was going to ask next. "Where are we going?"

"Far from here."

"But… why?" She didn't recognize the place so they had to be far from her home. She shivered for a whole different reason, feeling trapped in something she didn't understand and had no control over.

Howl wasn't about to lie, but he wasn't going to tell her more details than she needed to know either. "There's someone coming after us… someone quite powerful, but nothing I can't handle." he assured her. In fact it was coming after her, but he wasn't going to let it have her, not as long as he was alive. Hopefully it wouldn't go that far.

"My family… I can't…"

"Think about this as a trip. Time is… malleable… in my world. You won't be gone long." he promised.

She had no reason not to believe him and she also couldn't leave unless he let her. Would he? He'd been kind and gentle with her so far but she dreaded asking that. Maybe because she didn't want to ruin the nice and elegant first impression he'd made on her. A sigh left her lips getting lost over the valley.

"I'm home!" Howl announced when he entered the black door and found the lounge empty. The black feathers covering his body disappeared quickly and his black hair with blue highlights was turning to a lighter color. She hadn't seen him like that yet and he was glad.

He went to check on the fire that powered the castle but this wasn't Calcifer and he realized he was missing the old fire demon. Such a bad timing for taking a vacation, he thought shaking his head. As he held out his hands to warm them up a dried maple leaf fell down the chimney and at the contact with the fire a symbol glowed briefly on it before being engulfed by the flames.

_Mine_.

No, Howl shook his head again and the blonde locks danced around it. He needed to have a chat with the message's sender who so boldly had broken into his castle. He hoped it wasn't going to turn into a fight. He didn't want an open confrontation, he was a pacifist at heart. By now his appearance had returned to normal so he went in search of his beautiful guest.

There were a lot of places where she could be, he'd remodeled the castle twice to better suit her needs, not because she'd asked him to but because he wanted to make her happy. Her room had become larger and the furniture more modern, the adjacent bathroom was fitted with a jacuzzi and there was also a walk in closet full of clothes.

In spite of that she'd been more impressed by what he'd done than by the things themselves and she kept spending most of her time on the sofa in front of the fire waiting for him to come home. It was as if there was no life in his absence. He was gone often doing only he knew what and when he returned on several occasions he was so tired he only wanted a bath before going to bed. She still hadn't entered his room.

He found her on the balcony climbed up on a ledge busy hanging clothes to dry on a rope tied between two random chimneys. One flimsy piece of underwear left in hand she stepped on her toes to hang it higher. The castle shook from all of its joints and she fell.

Next thing she knew she was in Howl's arms.

"If you wanted to fly you just had to ask." He chided her with a teasing smile.

They were up in the air not supported by anything and he let go of her only holding her by one hand as he mimed walking on thin air.

"Is there anything that you can't do?" she laughed after the initial surprise wore off.

Howl didn't answer. He was a powerful Wizard but no one was perfect. It was better for her not to know all his weaknesses. He felt vulnerable when it came to her.

The walk via air eventually ended and as they returned to the castle and went inside he realised he had to have a discussion with her. The Witch had figured out what was the deal with his castle since she'd managed to send a message inside. She was getting closer. Things were getting serious.

"I need to talk to you about something." he started leading her to the table where they took a seat facing each other.

"Yes?"

"There's a witch outside… her name is Lamia and…"

"Lamia? I know her, she lives in a house close to mine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, of course. She tried to start some hassle in the beginning but she's harmless."

"Then it's not that Lamia."

"How many witches called Lamia can be out there?"

"If it's her, she is dangerous… she's been after you for a while…"

"Actually she's after my Paradise Star…"

"You have a Paradise Star?"

"Yes, a gift from a friend… do you know about them?"

"I've heard about them. I've never seen one, they're not supposed to exist here on earth."

"My friend wasn't supposed to return from the dead either. But don't worry, the situation is under control. She pulled some nasty stunts so now my family is keeping a close eye on her. She's not allowed inside the house until she gets over this obsession of hers."

"It's not an obsession, it's a curse. Once a curse is set we only live to remove it, we know nothing else, it's how us wizards and witches are. And since she's a witch, you can't stop her with usual means."

"And you can?"

"My powers should be strong enough to at least keep her in her place."

"That shouldn't be that hard. She's getting older and weaker each time she uses her powers. It's such a contradiction, she wants to be beautiful and powerful and still she is wasting it all away."

"Trying to get something that isn't going to help her. A Paradise Star is a pure form of energy, it's not technically alive."

"So she needs a living star? Are there such things?"

"Yes, but they are very rare. Of course there are also substitutes but the price is very high. Hmmm…"

Silence fell around the room.

"I'll have to think about it… but first I will try to make her reason." Howl decided. "Meantime I think there's something you might like to see." he smiled.

A new portal was opened and they went outside. It was dark, a warm summer night reigning over the quiet plain. As they walked Howl's blonde hair began to darken turning to its original darker than night color. Magic worked differently in this place. They stopped on the border of a large lake they ran into. Thousands of sparkling stars were dancing above its surface.

"It's so beautiful…" she whispered.

"Do you like it?" he smiled "It's one of my favorite places on earth."

"Are these living stars?" she wondered.

"They are alive alright, but they are no stars."

One of the glowing things came closer and flew around them a couple of times as if curious to see who they were and then went away.

"What are they?" the girl chuckled.

"They're demons. Don't ever make a deal with them."

"There's always a 'don't', isn't it?"

"Magic comes with a price." He murmured. He'd helped one of them once and had to pay with his heart for it. He wondered grimly if he was going to have to do it again soon in order to save her. "Let's go back."

It sounded more like an order and she had to obey. It didn't mean she wasn't going to return later for a swim in that lake. Maybe.

In spite of the darkness Howl seemed to know exactly where the portal was as he led her straight to it. The door opened letting them in to the cozy lounge of the castle.

"Look, one of them got away." the girl told Howl showing him the glowing thing dancing around the room.

"Calcifer, my friend, you're back!" the blonde wizard exclaimed happily.

"I sure am. Do you like my tan?" the white light turned into a red burning flame. "I've been to Hawaii!"

"It looks great on you." Howl approved.

The fire demon bounced against the walls some more and then settled into the fireplace. "I have a confession to make. There's no place like home." he sighed contended. "Who is that?" sparks erupted angrily from the wood pile.

"This is our guest, Calcifer, she will stay with us for a while."

"Are you sure that's a good idea, Howl? Remember what happened the last time you brought a girl into the castle?"

"I got my heart back." Howl replied easily.

"That's the only good thing that came out of it." the fire grumbled. "So what's the deal with her? Is she in trouble?"

"Just a little bit." The owner of the castle smirked. "Do keep an eye on her, Calcifer, it looks like our guest over here likes to play musical chairs with our portals quite a lot."

The girl blushed. Of course Howl knew what portals had she used, when and for how long. He was a wizard, duh! For now though she had a hard time wrapping her mind around the idea of a talking fire.

"Come closer, lady, let me take a good look at you." Calcifer called her flames moving forward in her direction showing interest and then he pulled them back when he saw her hesitate "Come on, I'm not gonna bite you… Uh-humpf… Not bad…" he muttered "Now let's make something clear from the start. I'm not cooking!" he exclaimed.

Howl hid an amused smile. He was glad to have his old friend back and he looked like he hadn't changed much. "I'll let you two get to know each other better." he said and headed for the door. "Don't wait up."

Calcifer started to vociferate something about ungrateful hosts who leave their friends alone right after their arrival home, but the girl wasn't paying attention to him watching Howl with a worried expression on her face. When the door closed over the darkness of the black portal she looked back and rolled her eyes. "Oh, shut up."

Contrary to Lamia's belief that the forest was her territory Howl felt at ease in it. He sensed no magic, no spells being cast around, as he walked freely between the old trees. Having inspected the area and decided it was good enough for a meeting he lifted himself up in the air above the tree crowns. He didn't want to go and knock on the witch's door, that would be too bold and definitely had a good chance to set off the mood, while showing up in her domain only showed that he didn't fear her, and he waited up there scanning the space below him. In the distance he could see his guest's house but he tried not to gaze too much in that direction. The though that she would have to return there sooner or later bothered him.

Before the morning dew evaporated Lamia went out for her daily search for plants. The mad cow who was running the house had thrown away her entire collection during the first cleaning spree and therefor she had to start all over again. In her fury she'd tried to punish her but the old hag had such a decrepit brain that no spell stuck to her. Wrapped in her velvet cape the witch wandered through the forest and she bent over here and there to pick up herbs and roots she put in the basket she was carrying.

"Good morning," the blonde wizard greeted her displaying a charming smile.

"Howl… I see you got my message." she said with a wicked grin. He was one head taller than her looking sharp as ever but she didn't seem impressed.

"Allow me to congratulate you for your skills, no one managed to break into my castle before." It had only happened because Calcifer hadn't been home to protect it but now it wasn't going to happen again. She had missed her chance.

"You came to hand your prisoner over to me?"

"She is not my prisoner." he stated.

"Then how would you call someone who's sporting a memory transparency spell?" she asked amiably. True, the girl still had all her memories but she couldn't quite grasp onto them. It didn't stop her from longing for something although she didn't know what that was.

"It's for her own protection." He claimed. "Her staying at the castle can be as long as needed and she doesn't have to suffer while she's there. I treat my guests well."

"You can't keep her there forever."

"Of course I can. You and I both know that our powers makes us close to immortal and I can stop the time for her in the castle."

"But she will remember. Love is the strongest weapon one possesses, it can break any spell. She _will_ remember." It sounded almost like a curse.

"Let me worry about that." Howl told her sweetly. He could only hope the girl would get to like him before that enough not to hate him too much.

"Oh, but I worry too… see how nice I am?" the witch smirked.

"She cannot help you."

"She has a star and I need one. I think she can." It was as simple as that.

"There's a heavy curse upon you and you can't see the truth because of it, I realise that, but you should use your powers more wisely. Stop pursuing her." he advised her.

The cape flared around Lamia and the hood fell down her shoulders revealing her long golden hair and beautiful angry features. No one called her foolish. "Because you want her?" she laughed with disdain. "Still eating hearts of beautiful young girls, Howl?"

"I've never had. I want her… to be safe." he said quietly.

"Then you'll have to fight for her. Next time there won't be just dogs I'll send after her. I am _not_ giving up." she threatened.

He'd feared that was going to be the case. "I don't want to fight you. When magicians fight the nature loses balance and the world becomes unstable."

"I don't care!" Lamia's voice rose in intensity. "I can fix it once I get my powers back."

"What if you don't?"

"Then to hell with it!" she exclaimed. The wizard seemed to have an inborn ability to piss her off. Maybe also because deep down inside part of her vaguely admitted he was right. But the curse was too strong, she couldn't help it.

This was going to be her excuse later when looking back at her actions. In an outburst of rage she lifted her arms up in the air and sent a ball of green light at Howl. He avoided it easily doing an elegant vault but the ball kept following him determining him to fly away. Big black raven wings grew on his back hitting strongly at the air to take him higher.

Stubborn in her desire to get him the witch wrinkled and shrunk until there was only an old shaking lady left barely standing up on her feet instead of the proud beauty that had been there only seconds ago. Bright light washed over the curved back of the woman but it wasn't the sunrise. It was Howl going out in flames.

The door opened with a squeak and Howl stumbled inside waking up Calcifer who'd fallen asleep on his logs.

"Thousands demons in hell, what happened to you?! You look like a chicken!" the fire demon exclaimed shocked by Howl's appearance.

"You should see the other one." the wizard muttered and winced as he plucked one of the feather from the stray patches that still covered his skin in places. "I'll be alright, I can handle this. Just set the bath ready."

"Are you sure? Shouldn't we call for help?" Calcifer worried.

"Is she home?" Howl stopped at the bottom of the stairs.

"She's on the balcony watching the world passing by. It's all she ever does these days." the fire demon complained. They had become sort of friends and he liked having someone to chat with.

Howl's shoulders slumped and he sighed "Good. I don't want her to see me like this." Then he dragged his feet up the stairs and disappeared on the floor above.

"Vanity! This will be the death of you someday, you hear me?!" Calcifer yelled after him unhappily. He hugged a log with his flames and went back to sleep still grumbling.

Little by little he climbed up on the log when the wetness reached him and he woke up sneezing. "Just when I was dreaming that I was back in Hawaii…" he muttered opening his eyes and panicked at the sight of all that immensity of water. The whole ground floor was flooded and water kept pouring down the stairs. "Help!" he screamed forgetting for a moment that nothing kept him tied to that fireplace and he could fly out of there if he wanted. "Water on board! Heeelp!!!"

His screams reached out on the balcony where the girl was making her come inside in a hurry. "What is it? What's with all this water?"

"Howl must have fallen asleep in the tub and forgotten the water running. Help! Please turn it off… look, it soaked all my logs." He complained but she wasn't listening to him any longer. She was already running up the stairs.

First the water stopped. Then, the screams started. "Auch… awww… auch… auch… no… no… no… that's enough… auch!… auch… awwwwww… that hurt!… stop… stop… stooooop… look, there's only a couple left… let me keep them… I won't have to grow a moustache… aw… aw…"

"Oh, dear, she's plucking the chicken…" Calcifer shuddered and blew warm air on his logs to make them dry faster.

Upstairs Howl was helped out of the bathroom and taken to his room that at first glance looked pretty much like a crowded Turkish bazaar.

"How can you breathe in here?"

"Don't scold me, I'm in pain." he moaned.

"You're a wizard, can't you make it go away?"

"Not the one caused by you." he sighed.

Delicate fingers danced over his now smooth skin looking for bruises and cuts. He hurt in so many places he didn't know anymore where he needed healing but he managed to do it before her fingertips got to touch the wounds.

"Did Lamia do this to you?"

"That witch is evil." he claimed. "And she looks much worse than Sophie did when she first came here." There was a hint of satisfaction in his voice as he said that.

"So is it over?"

"I'm afraid not… auch… what did you do that for?" he whined when a pillow thumped him lightly above the head.

"You're both acting like spoiled children playing with magic like that." she scolded him annoyed when what she really wanted to do was to hug him relieved that he was alright.

"It's not a game." He murmured.

She sighed. "I know."

Pushing him gently she made him lay on the bed and brushed the hair off his forehead. It felt odd to see it with his natural color since she wasn't used to it but the eyes had the same striking blue color like the sky. She smiled and whispered an order "Sleep now."

Several minutes after he closed his eyes she stood by his side watching him and listening to his quiet breathing. She couldn't deny that he was handsome even if he looked even paler with dark hair. He was charming though kept things mostly to himself but that wasn't strange coming from a wizard. Still she couldn't help being amazed by his immaturity at times when he tended to act young and childish. And while he was a powerful wizard he looked sort of helpless as he laid in bed like that making her feel the need to protect him and help him so he wouldn't have to fight the world on his own.

When the girl came downstairs, she pulled a chair near the fireplace, climbed on it and stared into the fire. "No one hurts what's mine. We need a plan."

Three heads put together could come up with a plan. They also could come up with a lot of arguments and disagreements. Calcifer was the one who vociferated the most. He didn't want to let a witch enter his castle, he didn't want to give in to her demands, he just wanted to burn her. Howl on the other hand still considered giving her as peace offer one of those shooting stars. He was convinced he could stand up to her now that he knew how her powers worked and it would have been a good payback. As for the girl, instead of worrying for her own faith she feared for their own. As far as she knew Lamia hadn't done serious harm to regular people but she had badly hurt Howl. Her magic seemed to work best when other magic was involved. This world was weird.

So they stood by the fireplace with hot drinks in hands feeding Calcifer cookies and they talked. After a lot of discussing they agreed there was one thing they could offer Lamia that didn't involve anyone's death. A deal that she might accept in lack of a better one. They could only hope.

Preparations being done Calcifer whined when he had to leave the castle and the girl protested because she had to stay in but Howl was adamant about that. He didn't want her anywhere near them when the deal was going to be made. Unable to predict the future he couldn't risk putting her in danger.

When the time came Howl went himself to escort Lamia after having spent over two hours in the bathroom getting ready, which had made one person in the castle very suspicious and sort of annoyed. Was he interested in pursuing the witch's favors by any chance? Guessing her worries the fire demon assured her he wasn't but how could anyone know it for sure beside himself?

"Welcome to my humble home." Howl told Lamia holding the door open for her to walk in first. He'd used a powerful cleaning spell the previous day and everything sparkled squeaking clean when they arrived.

"It's a nice little home." the witch, who wore a flashy green dress and look ready to go to the ball, said with a condescend smile. The castle wasn't small by far but not quite fancy enough for her tastes even if she was living in a cabin in the wood for the time being.

"Thank you." he nodded politely accepting the compliment. "We won't stay long. I've brought you here so we can go and settle our business."

From the entrance upstairs a pair of dark eyes was watching their every move. Howl had insisted for her to stay out of sight and it was hard to resist to that mystifying voice but that didn't mean she couldn't watch.

"The sooner the better." she agreed barely holding back her eagerness.

"Shall we?" he opened the door to another portal and offered her his arm. When her hand rested on his he took them both flying to the Star Lake.

Eyes flashed after them at the familiar gesture. Sure they were both magicians and had some things in common but did he have to really do that? What other reckless thing he might do if left alone with her? Sorry, Howl, I can't keep my promise. The door opened again.

Lamia was like a kid in a candy store. There were shiny stars wherever she looked and when Howl told her "Pick one." she nearly burst of joy. She reached out to grab one but they always pulled away not liking being touched. This was going to be more difficult than she'd thought it would be, beauty came with a price.

Panting as she ran towards the lake the girl could only hope that she wasn't going to get there too late. Oh, she was! She gasped seeing the two silhouette floating up in the air above the lake. A circle of burning stars, no, demons, she remembered, had formed around them. The lake was theirs and the presence of the powerful wizard and witch upon it worried and upset them. She stared up at the giant raven with human face and the old hag came from the worst horror movie she could imagine. They had already started to react turning them into their most deeper hidden self and those two weren't even aware of it. She had to do something!

They were too far towards the middle of the lake to hear her and she couldn't fly. There was just one other way to get closer to them. So she threw herself into the water and started to swim. Although it was a late hour in the night the water was pleasantly warm and seemed to oppose no resistance.

It was an enchanted place. Few people knew about it, even fewer visited it and no one had swam into the lake in centuries. Ripples spread around on the calm surface at the disturbance. Humans in their lake and wizards above them, that was a bit too much to take. The stars vibrated agitated in place and then their circle began a circular motion, slower at first and then faster and faster inducing the same behavior to the water below.

The centrifuge effect was pulling the invader towards the bottom of the lake and the girl screamed "Howl!"

The sound of her voice reached him and he looked down. Struggling wildly in place to release himself from the invisible strings the demons were holding him with he spread his enormous wings and launched himself down after the girl.

He barely didn't reach her before the water closed above her head. But this was Calcifer's home, the place where he was most powerful. Shooting from the depth he brought the girl up to his friend who took the unconscious body in his arms while the fire demon continued his way up.

"I've got it! I've got it!" Lamia exclaimed holding the pulsing star in her hands.

"Oh, geez, you caught me." the fire demon said sarcastically and even rolled his eyes.

"Yes! And now I'm gonna eat you."

"You can't eat me, lady, I'm gonna burn a hole right through you." he muttered.

"You're gonna make me young and beautiful!" she didn't listen to him.

"We'll see about that. Can we go home now? I'm all wet." he complained.

"You sure you understood?" Calcifer wanted to make sure. "You will be young and beautiful but you will still get old each time you use your powers. That's a curse I can't remove. But you will get back to being beautiful after that without using any of your powers. It's all I can offer for my" he pretended to shudder dramatically "freedom."

"Is he telling the truth?" Lamia looked at Howl who was sitting on the sofa with the girl laying in his arms watching them argue. He was back into full human form, but the witch remained several hundreds years old and the girl hadn't come back to her senses yet.

"I believe so."

"Hmm…" it wasn't all she had hoped for but it was a start.

"And don't forget you owe me a favor for it… oh, and it will hurt." Calcifer glowed brighter as if he enjoyed that particular detail.

"Just do it." Lamia ordered the fireball in her hand.

Flames enveloped her hand, her arm, then her entire body and her head fell back with her mouth open in a silent scream. Inside the burning sphere that surrounded her her body grew tall, bold and beautiful. Every nerve ending hurt after the fire ceased but the result was stunning.

"Nice work, Calcifer." Howl congratulated his friend and he made appear a large mirror for Lamia to watch herself in it.

The witch needed a moment to catch her breath before doing a twirl in front of that mirror. Even the dress and hairdo looked great. "Not bad." she smirked.

The first thing the girl saw upon opening her eyes was a flutter of green disappearing through the door that closed with a click.

"What happened?" she murmured.

"She's gone." Calcifer deadpanned from the fireplace where he was busy kissing his logs.

"It's over… for now." Howl smiled down at her.

"Oh…" That meant she could go home now, leave Howl and his castle. Was that a sad look on her face?

"Your family will be glad to have you back." he seemed to read her mind.

She felt a stab of guilt. How long had she been away? It was hard to tell. Yes, she had to go home. Sigh.

"Don't let her leave empty handed. Give her one of our perfume." Calcifer commented. He kinda liked the girl too.

Howl inserted a hand in his pocket and pulled out a small crystal bottle that fit in his palm. "This one is for you." he told her and placed it in her smaller hand. He'd spent many hours trying to find the right fragrance for her and only Calcifer knew about his efforts.

"It's a special bottle." Calcifer wanted to share part of the merit since he'd been the one melting the sand in order to make the glass.

Her eyebrows rose at Howl wondering what that meant.

"You'll never run out of perfume now." the wizard explained.

She looked at the bottle then back at the blonde handsome man and grinned narrowing her eyes. "Can I have a regular bottle?" This way she could return for a refill.

The fire demon huffed.

"Well, I'd hate losing it." she smirked and winked at Calcifer.

Howl laughed and ran his fingers over the bottle. Maybe an excuse to touch her hand. The bottle would never become completely empty a small quantity of perfume always remaining on the bottom but she could use that as a pretext if she wanted to visit him again.

"There's something else I want you to have." His hand closed in the air and only opened to reveal a shiny key. "Use this whenever you're in trouble."

Blushing and not daring to hope what that meant she took the key. But she didn't leave just yet.

"I woke up the next day in the garden laying on the chaise without the faintest recollection of how or where I had spent the previous night." I said.

"What a story… you should be a storyteller, Love." Alexei chuckled and kissed my cheek.

"But I am." I grinned snuggling in his embrace. "

"Well, wherever you were, that's a great perfume you got that night." he declared burrowing his nose in the crook on my neck and inhaled deeply.

"Thank you." I giggled tickled by his warm breath. In my pocket my fingers closed around the key.

The End


End file.
